Wildcats face three foes at Anamosa
Wrestling
Maquoketa Valley faced three opponents in a quadrangular meet at Anamosa Dec. 18.
The Wildcats lost all three duals, by scores of 60-24 to Anamosa, 66-24 to Monticello, and 62-18 to Center Point-Urbana.
It was a big night for MV’s Michael Schaul, who pinned all three of his opponents at 126 pounds.
Three other Wildcats picked up wins by pin during the meet: Parker Sternhagen, Tim Harmon and Michael Feldmann.
Boys basketball
The Wildcats faced one of the top teams in the state Dec. 14, playing host to North Linn, and lost 84-36. The visiting Lynx jumped to a 52-19 lead by halftime.
A.J. Ambundo led Maquoketa Valley in scoring with 15 points. Andrew Holtz made six assists, and Mason Lubben had four assists.
“They play at a pace that is tough to mimic in practice, and it got us out of our comfort zone,” Maquoketa Valley coach Eric Conner said.
MV (2-1, 6-2) bounced back with a non-conference win at Central Elkader Dec. 17, by a score of 48-43. The Wildcats rallied with a 15-6 fourth quarter to pick up the win. Brian Heims had a double-double with 18 points 11 rebounds, Ambundo added 12 points, and Holtz had 10 points and nine assists. Blake Becker had nine rebounds.
“It was nice to see our guys bounce back from the loss to North Linn,” Conner said. “This win said a lot about the character of our team.”
On Dec. 18, MV secured another win, a 49-35 decision at Central City. A big second half was key to the win; Maquoketa Valley outscored their hosts 30-17 in the final two quarters. Heims had 19 points, Holtz had 11 points and nine assists, and Becker grabbed nine rebounds.
“This was a huge win for us,” the coach said. “We played great team defense in the second half, took the lead in the late part of the third quarter, and never looked back.”
Girls basketball
Three Maquoketa Valley players scored in double figures, but it wasn’t enough to overcome ninth-ranked North Linn in a Dec. 14 game in Delhi. North Linn took an early 16-3 lead, and went on to defeat MV 69-52.
Sam Wall scored 15 points, Emerson Whittenbaugh had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Ella Imler added 10 points for MV. Taya Gucker had seven rebounds, and Maci Freiburger had six.
At Central Elkader Dec. 17, the Wildcats scored a lopsided non-conference win, 65-35. The ‘Cats again had three double-digit scorers: Wall with 15, Whittenbaugh with 13 and Imler with 11. Whittenbaugh had 10 rebounds to complete a double-double. MV led 34-19 at halftime.
Maquoketa Valley (3-1, 8-2) then scored a 74-42 win at Central City Dec. 18, with the help of two 20-point scorers. Wall shot 10-for-20 from the field and finished with 25 points, and Whittenbaugh had 20. Brooke Wilson came off the bench to score eight points. Imler had eight rebounds, and Tucker had seven rebounds and four steals.